ICANN published results of the first three ICANN Last Resort Auctions (there was an auction in June for a IDN String) tonight and we certainly learned a few things.
Many people had the opinion that Google and Amazon would simply outbid all other applicants for all the strings just because they could.
However Google wound up losing all three auctions as did Donuts.
At the end of the day Google like all companies, have a budget for each string and won’t pay an unlimited amount of money for each just because the can.
So now we have proof.
Google will not win all the strings they applied for that are in contention.
The most surprising result was probably the auction for .Tech which was won by a company owned by the principal of the .Uno Registry which outbid some powerhouses;
Google, Donuts, Uniregistry, Minds + Machines and Straat.co, which is associated with the company that sold the .Co to Neustar for $109 Million.
Unlike private auctions in which the proceeds of the auction go to the non-winning applicants, the proceeds of the ICANN auction go to ICANN.
Therefore in private auctions the losers in one auction can use the proceeds it gets from withdrawing there application to bid on other strings, in an ICANN auction they have no such luxury.
.Buy
Amazon was the high bidder with a winning bid of $4,588,888.
Amazon outbid Google, Donuts and Famous Four.
As we can see from the chart below 1 of the 4 bidders dropped out at $900,000
A second bidder dropped out at $1.5 Million
One other applicant stuck around with Amazon but had an exist bid of over $3.9 million but short of the winning bid of $4,588,888.
This means out of Google, Donuts and Famous Four, two of the three dropped out of the bidding at or under $1.5 million.
That alone may surprise some people.
Final Results for BUY
String Won
Applicant
Application ID
Winning Price
Date of Auction
BUY
Amazon EU S.à r.l.
1-1315-53217
$4,588,888
17 September 2014
Applicant
Application ID
Submitted Deposit (Participated in Auction)
Amazon EU S.à r.l.
1-1315-53217
Yes
Bitter Sunset, LLC
1-1368-92181
Yes
Charleston Road Registry Inc.
1-1141-30048
Yes
dot Buy Limited
1-1213-57533
Yes
Round Information:
Round #
Start of Round Price
End of Round Price
Number of Eligible Bidders
Aggregate Demand
1
$1
$400,000
4
4
2
$400,000
$900,000
4
3
3
$900,000
$1,500,000
3
2
4
$1,500,000
$2,200,000
2
2
5
$2,200,000
$3,000,000
2
2
6
$3,000,000
$3,900,000
2
2
7
$3,900,000
$4,900,000
2
*
Final Results for .TECH
In this auction Dot Tech LLC, which is owned by the same principal of the new gTLD .Uno, beat out Google, Donuts, Uniregistry and Minds + Machines with a winning bid of $6,760,000
In this auction one applicant dropped out of the auction at the $1.5 Million level, 2 dropped out at the $3 Million level and 3 bidders bid $6.2 million or more with the highest exit bid placed at $6,760,000
String Won
Applicant
Application ID
Winning Price
Date of Auction
TECH
Dot Tech LLC
1-1670-76346
$6,760,000
17 September 2014
Applicant
Application ID
Submitted Deposit (Participated in Auction)
Charleston Road Registry Inc.
1-1678-63859
Yes
Dot Tech LLC
1-1670-76346
Yes
Lone Moon, LLC
1-1554-19894
Yes
NU DOT CO LLC
1-1296-83792
Yes
Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
1-1110-23787
Yes
Uniregistry, Corp.
1-855-90632
Yes
Round Information:
Round #
Start of Round Price
End of Round Price
Number of Eligible Bidders
Aggregate Demand
1
$1
$400,000
6
6
2
$400,000
$900,000
6
6
3
$900,000
$1,500,000
6
5
4
$1,500,000
$2,200,000
5
5
5
$2,200,000
$3,000,000
5
3
6
$3,000,000
$3,900,000
3
3
7
$3,900,000
$4,900,000
3
3
8
$4,900,000
$6,200,000
3
3
9
$6,200,000
$7,800,000
3
*
.VIP
In the Final of the auctions .VIP had five bidders with publicly traded Minds + Machines beating out Google, Donuts, I-Registry which owns the .Onl and .Rich new gTLD’s, and VIP Registry Pte. Ltd out of Malaysia
As you can see below one bidder dropped out at $1.5 Million, a second bidder dropped out at $2.2 million a third bidder dropped out at before $3 Million and the final bidder must have had an exist bid between $3 Million and $3,000,887 as $3,000,888
String Won
Applicant
Application ID
Winning Price
Date of Auction
VIP
Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
1-1037-88001
$3,000,888
17 September 2014
Applicant
Application ID
Submitted Deposit (Participated in Auction)
Charleston Road Registry Inc.
1-1140-53549
Yes
I-Registry Ltd.
1-1003-40726
Yes
John Corner, LLC
1-1532-71538
Yes
Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
1-1037-88001
Yes
VIP Registry Pte. Ltd.
1-878-22942
Yes
Round Information:
Round #
Start of Round Price
End of Round Price
Number of Eligible Bidders
Aggregate Demand
1
$1
$400,000
5
5
2
$400,000
$900,000
5
5
3
$900,000
$1,500,000
5
4
4
$1,500,000
$2,200,000
4
3
5
$2,200,000
$3,000,000
3
2
6
$3,000,000
$3,900,000
2
*
